Larger than Life
by HadesWriter
Summary: Lillynette, a short golden eyed elf , is bribed into joining Gandalf and her hated rival. To make things worse, Lillynette is being hunted by an orc for a dangerous plot. And he's not alone.. But will the quest change her feelings for the her rival, or make them stronger? She must chose: pride or heart?
1. Prologue: Fool's Gold

A young girl stood at the entrance to a dwarf kingdom Sindarin Erebor as her father had called it. She was coming there on request to her father, and her eldest brother, Legolas. The young girl found the gigantic mountain scary because as an elf she did not like the darkness.

The young elf girl had two problems, not just her fear of the darkness. Her eyes, big golden ones, and her height. Short beyond a normal elf, she feared that she could be compared to a dwarf. Despite her different height and eyes, she was quiet pretty. Slender figure, pale yet soft skin, and dark raven locks that billowed in the wind. Her father, the Elvin king of Mirkwood, stood next to her and led her into the greats halls of Erebor.

Lillynette trembled in fear, and her small heart hammered in her chest. Every sense in her being screamed for her to run and rejoice in the sunlight. But as the future ruler's sister, she knew she had to accept the darkness. So she resumed her easy pace through the mountain.

All in all, Lillynette discovered, as far as dwarf homes go, this one wasn't awful. The halls were grand, and large each crafted to perfection. It amazed her how such small people could build such tall master pieces, not that she could speak. In the home of the smaller middle earth dwellers, she felt even more self-conscious about her height.

"Are you frightened, my dear?" her father questioned, glancing down at her. Lillynette swallowed and drew a shaky breath.

"Not at all father," she replied coolly, but bit her lip in a nervous manner.

"It's alright to be afraid, Lillynette. You are very brave for not running like I imagined you would," he told the little elf bluntly, while flashing her a small smile.

The elf girl blushed profoundly, and smiled back up at her father. "I won't run, papa. I'll never run away from anyone or anything! I'll be brave and smart and wise as you are!"

The elf king chuckled as they continued to venture through the torch lit tunnels, while the clinking of armor followed. Lillynette looked back to see her father's guard following them into the hall.  
She had never been so happy to see them.

"Sometimes the smartest and wisest thing to do is admit you can't always be brave," her father patted her head, and Lillynette pouted slightly. They were approaching two dwarf men and a smaller one.  
Lillynette guessed it to be a child, but she didn't know for sure...because all dwarfs were short.

An dwarf with a white beard and hair sat on the throne holding a piece of gold. It was a cup, Lillynette decided. Next to him was a dwarf who was younger, but had a wise aura to him. He had a dark beard, and dark hair much like the old dwarf. Then the third, Lillynette realized, was a dwarf child.

He had messy shoulder length dark locks, and piercing onyx eyes. He stood with his arms crossed, and his head cocked back in a superior-inferior manner. Lillynette disliked the dwarf already.

"Welcome King Thranduil, and your daughter, Princess Lillynette," the old man greeted and tilted his head at the two royal elves. "She is quiet short for her race."

Thranduil held his composure and desperately hoped his daughter would do the same. Even though he highly doubted it, he knew how very sensitive she was about her height. Glancing down at Lillynette he waited for her to brush off the insult.

Lillynette gasped, never had someone so bluntly point out her...issue. She refused to be brought down by a mere dwarf, and an old one at that. "I'm not that short! I'm...I'm GROWING!"

Her outburst rang throughout the halls of the dwarf kingdom, and Lillynette found her cheeks reddening. Other dwarfs came around to stare, and yes, glare at the little elf. Some however, were surprised that she had so rudely addressed their king. How rude, didn't they teach elves better?

However, she stood "tall" and glared defiantly at the old dwarf. He gazed at her golden eyes and she could have swore she saw him swallow.

"Learn some manners, brat!" the little dwarf boy ordered, and Lillynette glared at him. He glared down at her without fear. Lillynette felt smoke coming out of her ears with rage. How dare that short, annoying, fat, stupid, tunnel-digging worm call her short?! He would be shorter than her, she would make sure of that. Then when she became tall like the other elves, she could squish him like a bug underfoot. "You're so short, you could pass for a dw-"

"Enough, Thorin!" the old dwarf commanded in a booming tone. "It was my fault, I should not have insulted Princesss Lillynette in the first place," he smiled gently at the elf, and continued to look into her eyes as if they captivated him.

Lillynette knew what the dwarf boy was going to say. That she, the elf princess of Mirkwood, could pass as a dwarf. She felt miserable, and sick to her stomach at the thought. She ignored the apology that the dwarf was ordered to give her completely. Her pride had curled up in the back of her mind and wailed. She listened to the rest of the conversation even though she felt horrid.

She learned that the old dwarf was King Thrór, the younger dwarf beside him was Thráin II, and the stupid short dwarfs name was Throin. She narrowed her eyes at him, and all he did was smirk back at her.

"We are here to discuss the amount of treasure you have...gathered," Thranduil spoke, and the throne room silenced. Lillynette stopped glaring at the prince, because she knew the matter of dragons was important.

"What about it?" King Thrór responded, downing his tenth cup of ale or beer. Lillynette had forgotten which one he was on.

"I advise you rid yourself of some, a dragon could be brought by it," Thraunduil continued, and the King stood abruptly. He glared at him with such rage that Lillynette stepped back, and even Throin seemed surprised

"How dare you?! How dare you come into my kingdom, and order me around?!" He roared in fury, but Thraunduil remained impassive. Lots of childish outbursts had taught Lillynette that her father was a very, very patient elf. He would wait for her to finish screaming, before reading her a story, and then scolding her.  
He only did this once he was sure she had lost her voice.

"I only wish for the safety of your people," he interrupted, but this only further enraged the king. "I have only that interest in heart."

"I know my people better than you! Better than anyone! I will decide what to do, I will decide what is best for my kingdom!" The King began again, and began to pace the space between them and the throne.

Lillynette watched him pacing back and forth with sharp eyes. Her golden eyes flickering to his every movement and watching him carefully. "Your greed will be your downfall."

The entire room went silent, and the dwarfs began to mutter in disbelief yet again. Some, of course, had to praise the elves on their courage. "What was that?" The dwarf king demanded.

Thraunduil stood from the chair he had been offered, and shook his head. " Your gold and jewels matters more to you than your own kin. If you will not leave, then receive your punishment," he bowed in a respectful manner, and quickly turned around to leave. The guards followed behind him, and Lillynette stared at his back. "Lillynette! Come."

"Yes, papa," Lillynette called, and hopped of the small chair to race after her father. The many dwarfs watched as she ran past, some questioning her eyes and her height but she ignored them. Her elf shoes clapped on the stone floor, and she caught up to her father.

"Father, what will we do if they are attacked?"

He stopped, before looking back at the king. It seemed as though he had forgotten the argument completely to look at gold. "Nothing, Lillynette. The outcome will be their punishment."


	2. Friend of a Huntress

Lillynette sat patiently on the tree branch with her hood drawn over her sharp features. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, the perfect time to carry out her job. She reached behind her back to draw a oak arrow to draw on her elf made bow. She could hear them now, the orcs were approaching.

It had been several years since she left the safety of Mirkwood, and she had become a orc hunter. She had indeed grown even if just a little, and her hair was now a flaming black mass behind her. Her skin was no longer soft, it had been worn by the harshness of the wilderness. Her golden eyes were no longer wide with innocence, but sharp with ferocity. She was no longer the frail elf princess who hid behind her father, but a fierce huntress living in the wilderness.

Lillynette quietly drew her first arrow, and waited with the patience only an elf could have. Her breath became quieter so she could hear the crunch of leaves under foot. She pulled the arrow backwards, with blazing golden eyes trained on the area behind the tree. She could hear them, no one now. Lillynette furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. They never travel alone, maybe it's the one I've been looking for, Lillynette thought.

The crunching suddenly ceased, and Lillynette scowled in frustration. Perhaps she had imagined it? No, she definitely heard an orc.

Then a hand appeared on the tree.  
Without thinking or asking questions, Lillynette fired her bow.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?! FIRING ON A DEFENSELESS OLD WIZARD?" The person she had shot screeched. Lillynette lifted her hood up, and sighed at the sight. A man, an old man with a gray beard and blue cloak. She had pinned his matching blue hat onto the tree, and he was using the tree for support.

"Gandalf?" She asked, and skillfully climbed down the tree. She landed on the ground, carefully approaching the enraged wizard. Lillynette hadn't expected to meet her old friend especially in the wild.

He glared up at her before his expression softened. "Lillynette, my dear, is that you?" He laughed before limping up and wrapping her in a hug.

Lillynette smiled before hugging her friend she hadn't seen since her days in Mirkwood. She stepped back to look at him before pouting, "you've gotten old."

He laughed before plucking his hat off the tree, and handing back her arrow, "my dear Lillynette that is what happens with age."

She grinned sheepishly at him, "Sorry for trying to kill you." Lillynette gingerly placed the arrow back in it's repeatable place along with the bow.

He laughed, and as she laughed with him...he hit her on the back of the head. "You crazy old man! What in Elrond's name was that for?!"

"For trying to kill me," he replied in a calm voice. "Really any lower and you would have taken me out, Princess."

Lillynette fixed a scowl on her face, "You've called me that since I was small."

He observed her up and down, "my dear...you still are small." Placing a hand on her back, and leading her down the path he had set off for before she tried to kill him

Lillynette slapped his hand, and frowned, "I'm still growing, Gandalf." He only laughed at her once again before inquiring on how her life had been since leaving Mirkwood.

She explained that she no longer wished to live in Mirkwood because of her status. No one took her seriously so she left to become a huntress. She stuck to her elf ways; eating only veggies, and speaking elvish occasionally. She traveled here and there protecting different towns for a small sum of gold. She informed him that she had once heard of a nasty looking pale orc traveling through the forests when she was on watch for the townspeople.

This made Gandalf halt and look back at her, " are you sure you saw a pale orc?"

Lillynette nodded, "nasty looking orc too I heard. He had cuts all over, and was missing an arm. It looked like it was replaced with that hook thing."

Gandalf stroked his beard, and frowned something obviously troubling. However, Lillynette didn't press for details; she had known him long enough to tell when he was willing to share information.

Lillynette cleared her throat, "so why are you coming through this passage way?"

"Ah, I'm glad you asked," he turned to face her, "I have a proposition for you."

Lillynette raised an eyebrow, her elf ears twitching with curiosity. Usually when Gandalf said "proposition" it was usually some unattainable quest where she would end up getting killed. He almost always found some strange thing to loom over her head to get her to travel with him to wherever he decided to go. Last time he had asked her to travel to a orc kingdom and retrieve his staff...she was still going to kill him for that. "Actually, since most of the quests end with me getting injured I was thinking," She began, but Gandalf wouldn't let her finish.

"I'm glad you want to hear more about it, my dear Lillynette," He interrupted, and began to drag her along the path. "Perhaps their is a town we can stop at, right Lillynette?"


	3. Bribing an Elf

Lillynette soon found herself in a tavern with Gandalf. He was obviously trying to get her drunk, little did he know of her high tolerance for any alcoholic beverage. After she left Mirkwood, the first thing she tried was ale. It was bitter, and sour to her elf tongue which was used to the fineness of elvish food. However she soon found herself drinking it occasionally, especially when she failed at healing a plant. She could tell that he was trying to get her to sign the contract under his cloak, so he could use her pride to bind her to the quest. She had refused every time he asked after each drink.

"Why do you want me to go so badly?" She sighed, getting a little drowsy despite her alcohol tolerance. She wanted to leave because many drunk eyes were trained on her. She had been to many bars to know that drunk men would always go for the "short" and "defenseless" elf girl. She would easily get rid of them with a well-aimed kick to the groin.

"You know the path better than he does," Gandalf admitted bringing the pint to his bearded face once again. "With his luck we would be lost with just leaving the woods." This halted her thoughts instantaneously, why wasn't Gandalf using a name? That was bad for Gandalf.

"Who?" She asked, and watched intently as Gandalf shifted nervously. "Gandalf, who?"

Gandalf was always very truthful with her, even to the point he was blunt. How he had called her short, and laughed at her healing magic. She remembered very well all the great words she had learned from him that only got her in trouble with her mother. So when he ignored the question she knew that she would know and not like this person whoever he was.

"It matters not, my dear," he coughed, and cleared his throat, "will you come with me?"

Lillynette bit her lip in worry. It would be incredibly rude of her to brush him off, but at the same time he hadn't given her any detail on what she would be doing or where she was going. He wasn't telling her anything, in fact. She wasn't going to have another "just going down the road" incident like the last three times where she ended up traveling half-way across Middle Earth. "Where are we going?"

He frowned under his beard, "that's private." Gandalf gulped in fear, if she discovered who his "friend" was she would decline...and possibly never speak with him again. He knew that she would never forgive him for thinking it was a good idea for them to travel together.

Her eyebrows scrunched in anger and frustration, "then with whom?"

He croaked after the pint was finished in his hand, and he lazily waved the inn owner over for another, "that is also private." Gandalf desperately wished to hide before she whipped out her short sword.

Lillynette felt her ears twitch in annoyance, but she refused to waste her breath on his old ears, "then my answer is still no."

He laughed, and Lillynette stiffened. That laugh, the laugh he used when he was planning something. It was the laugh that was the last thing she heard from him before she was roped into a quest.

Gandalf knew this would be low, even for him. And it probably wouldn't work, she was an elf of course. This was a desperate situation, however.

"Lillynette, I'm afraid you must go," he nodded, and stamped his staff on the wooden floor in triumph.

She pouted, and crossed her arms like she did when her father ordered her to cross her legs in a dress, "no, I don't."

"Maybe this will change your mind," he grinned, and his eyes sparkled with mischief. He handed her a piece of paper, and she frowned. It was nothing special, not in the least if anything it was a very ugly looking piece of paper.

She picked it up, and raised an eyebrow at the wizard who had already started his second pint. She flipped it open to read. It read:

Lillynette,  
The place to where we will be going with have as much gold as anyone could possibly wish for. If you come, I am sure my friend will pay you greatly for your services.

Lillynette scowled deeply at her friend. She couldn't believe him! How dare he think gold, the most worthless thing in an elf's being, would be enough to bring her on another dangerous quest? After her father had told her; "Gold is like bloodshed, it only brings sorrow, and pain."

"Now, Lillynette," He breathed, suddenly sober, "I can understand that if this still isn't good, I am more than capable of finding another-

"Are you kidding? When do we start!?" Lillynette grinned manically, and Gandalf raised a confused eyebrow. Since leaving Mirkwood, she had become less of an elf; drinking, and loving gold. Maybe this quest wouldn't be that awful...if she got a nice gift out of it.


	4. Deception of the Orc

Amada: Fool(1) Naur, Tarien: Fire, Princess(2) Gurtha a' lle : Die, Scum re kuruni: elf witch(3)

Lillynette frowned for probably the ninth time that day, where did Gandalf say to go? Bag End, right? Somewhere in this place called the "Shire?" How come from all her travels and "Gandalf-death" quests had she never heard of the Shire? Lillynette frowned, for the tenth time that day. How come wizards always assumed that their directions were good? Gandalf would always say something was close by when it could have been on the other side of Middle Earth. He obviously couldn't judge distance very well or maybe he always rode a horse?

As a child, horseback riding was never her strong suit. The only horses Mirkwood had were tall, and big footed ones that all elves could ride. Too bad she was too short to ride them. So while other elves her age where riding horses, she found herself scaring her mother by climbing huge pines.

She finally reached the wilderness, and found a suitable oak to climb. With the nimbleness of a elf, she scaled the oak tree with ease. Once she climbed up high enough, she walked on the branch. Even if she couldn't ride (well she could but it usually ended with her bleeding), or run as fast as the others, she could easily out do all of them in the trees.

Most elves could easily climb trees, but it was still hard for them. It took lots of stamina, and healing in case you fall. They didn't have the small body or the even smaller feet that were needed to be safe while climbing. She could clamber faster than any trained archer in her father's army, and she did so with glee. Lillynette remembered happily the time she threw acorns at the others from high up above, and how they couldn't reach her with bow and arrow.

She leaped into the air, and landed on the next branch without a sound. Yanking her hood over her face, and moving throughout the night. The sun had fallen over the horizon, and the moon had claimed the sky as its own. The Huntress had returned to her normal habitat, the dark of wilderness, and cover of the night. Lillynette quickened her pace as she replayed Gandalf's orders in her mind. She was sure that Gandalf had wanted her to go to this "Shire" tonight.

Suddenly a howl ripped through the night, and it stopped Lillynette on a branch. Her nose and ears twitched looking for a smell or another sound. It had to be a warg, Lillynette decided, by why would it be all the way out here?

As she peeked around her tree, she spotted the source of the howl. It was three wargs; two brown ones, and a white org. She swallowed nervously, she had never run into an orc. Let alone three, because she never had too. When wargs were spotted outside Mirkwood, her father sent five able elves to dispose of them, and they all returned without so much as a scratch on their attire. She remember vaguely her father telling her that wargs were not so different from wolves, but they were faster, and bigger than any wolf. Not to mention a white one hadn't been seen in many years, it was believed to be extinct.  
Well that was a lie.

Lillynette's features immediately paled as the figure riding the white warg turned. It was the pale orc with large scars adorning his body as if he had been whipped or slashed. He had sour yellow eyes, and pointy ears. Just as she remembered he had a hook replacing his arm, and the same arrogant air to him. He looked like he was smiling, and it freaked her out; why was he smiling?

"I smell an elf," he growled, and Lillynette's hand flew to her bow, "the same she-elf as the one with the wizard."

Lillynette wasn't surprised that the orc could speak elvish, it wasn't uncommon. Neither was the fact he could smell her, for she could smell his rotting stench. Without thinking, Lillynette released two arrows into the air. Her shooting was superb, enough to put any high class archer to shame. It was her other specialty besides tree climbing, and she put equal amount of pride in. They found themselves at home in the heads of the orcs, who didn't have time to wail or cry for help, before falling off the warg. Lillynette watched in disgust as the wargs whipped around and devoured their former rider, she swallowed her ale. The pale orc flipped around seconds later to observe the damage she had brought to his precious comrades. She felt a small bit of pride bloom in her as she saw the shocked expression of the pale orc.

"Nice work, Elf Princess," he grinned a toothy smile," that is quiet impressive." Lillynette almost jumped down, and bowed to him for the compliment if he wasn't trying to kill her with his warg.

Lillynette didn't respond, but continued to watch the orc try to locate her. She knew that if she responded, he would try to find her with that stupid warg. All the warg would have to do is chomp her in the stomach and that would be the end of her. "Perhaps you would join me again?"

Instead of remembering her previous warning to herself she shouted back,"as if I'd work with a orc!" Her father always warned her that her tongue would be the end of her, he was probably right too. Though it did disturb her, what did he mean by again?

His smiled widened but it held no warmth like Gandalf's did. It was full of cruelty and malice, the stuff of orcs. "So? If you work with me, you won't have to go on that journey with the wizard and your enemy. He's lying to you Princess" He patted the warg who began to sniff the air; she bit her lip and cursed at herself. Truthfully, not going on another death quest sounded like paradise to the elf girl, but to work with an orc? She rather go on five death missions and chop off all her hair. One thing did trouble her though, her enemy? Surely he doesn't mean HIM? Who's lying to her? Gandalf? He has no need to; he's always been brutally honest with her.

"Amada(1)" She whispered, and drew another arrow aiming it at the unsuspecting orc. Her pride, the curse it may be, demanded she fire on him, and kill him on the spot. Even as a child she refused to let a elf walk away unscathed after calling her short, even when she knew it was wiser to ignore the comments.

"Naur, Tarien.(2)" He commanded, and her smile widened. Lillynette was shocked at his request to fire at him, and she scowled realizing he must be making fun of her. It was either her height or her skill it had always been. She aimed the arrow to shoot him dead in the head, hopefully it would be the end of him.

"Gurtha a' lle(3)," she whispered as she let the arrow fly. The arrow was dipped in a weak poison she found in mushrooms she had found, and accidently eaten on many occasions.

The fired arrow was pointing straight at him, and to her surprise, Azog noticed. Only a great warrior would be able to pick up the whistle of an arrow as if flies through the air, or maybe just a really good hearer. The arrow would have been a direct hit, striking him in the forehead. However at the last minute he swerved the side and the arrow flashed by his face. Lillynette knitted her eye brows, and then smiled when she saw a drop of blood streak down his face. A straight, but very thin cut formed on his left cheek, "re kuruni.(4)"

"Don't humor yourself, Azog," she hissed, her voice as cold as ice, "I will never work for you." Orcs had murdered hundreds of men, woman, children, elves and dwarfs; even if she despised some of them she hated orcs the most. Brainless creatures who slaughtered without mercy reminded herself of her with ale. She would never, until her death, no beyond that, work with a murdering orc. The pale orc was no exception no matter how great his offer was, gold will always outweigh death missions. Lillynette turned away before he would ram the warg into the tree, and force her to run on the ground. She quickly leaped into the air once again, and landed shakily on another branch. Lillynette never felt so sick in her life as when he suggested she work for him.

As she raced away, she missed him rubbing saliva on the wound to taste his blood, and his cold laugh. " You already do princess, you always have"

**Chapter End Notes:**

This will more like the movie then book, sorry people!


	5. Nice to meet you too

After the little orc fiasco in the forest Lillynette was a bit shaken up. Why did that orc have to take an interest in her out of all the short, golden eyed elves? Lillynette shivered trying to erase the very bothering orc's memory but it refused to leave and branded itself into her mind instead. She found herself an arrow short, something she wasn't used to since she usually collected the arrows from the orcs.

That stupid Azog had probably kept it as some kind of creepy gift from her. She shuddered at the thought of him following her around. She hoped these "friends" of Gandalf could handle him for her. Perhaps she could drop him on them, but she immediately dismissed the idea, her pride wouldn't allow it.

After asking many people, she had gotten someone to tell her where the Shire was. It was an inn keeper named Gale, and he had told her that a race of beings known as Hobbits called the Shire their home. Gale was a short and very plump man who spoke with a very drafty accent with wisps of gray hair covering his shiny bald head. He was a very rude, but very tough man despite his size. She couldn't help but judge everyone since she had been judged by him and others just as much. From what she heard from Gale, Hobbits were short; shorter than dwarfs.

He even made a sly joke on how she would fit in perfectly. She tried to stab his hand with her dagger. They had big, very hairy feet and the ones he had seen never wore shoes of any kind. Gale offered her directions, which she greedily took and he took her two pieces of gold. She nodded to him briefly as he waved goodbye to her, and jumped with joy with her two gold pieces clutched in his fat fingers.

Lillynette found her feet to be quite sore so, instead of her usual tree hopping, she stuck to the road. The road was short, and she found herself enjoying the route with its new plants she hadn't seen before. She wondered very briefly what type of ale they might have, maybe something a little more sweet than the others.

Lillynette was sure she was coming close to this "Shire" Gandalf spoke of, when a very short man looked at her. Lillynette had seen dwarfs, and yes, they were short but this hobbit made a dwarf tall in comparison. And just as Gale had said, the hobbit had large, very hairy feet. He didn't seem shocked by her sudden appearance. If anything he looked annoyed. He was young, she could tell by how he shivered at her gaze, and held the lantern too close to his face.

"I'm sorry, sir but I was wondering if you wouldn't mind telling me where Bag End is," she asked politely. br /  
The other elves often told her she had two personalities; one: her usual prideful and tough one, two: her overly kind and polite one. She hadn't realized this until she found herself speaking in a different tone to new people she hadn't met, then people like Gandalf or orcs.

The hobbit sighed, "You must be with those other strange men."

Lillynette raised an eyebrow. Perhaps these were the "friends" that Gandalf had spoken of when bribing her and telling her to sign the contract. Lillynette shrugged and the hobbit frowned before offering to show her the way.

He hadn't spoken much at all on their way to Bag End, and she didn't ask him to. He would speak every once in a while to ask her why she was here, or how she got here, and the occasional you shouldn't be here. Lillynette, despite her overly polite personality, felt her rude side wanting to knock him out. She knew as much as he did about this "meeting" and frankly wanted to collect her gold and leave this quest as soon as possible. He would frown whenever she shrugged or didn't comment at all. He never gave _his_ name but wouldn't stop to press for hers. She hoped to stall him long enough to get to Bag End and then dump him like a sack of week old potatoes.

When he wasn't torturing her for information, she was enjoying the Shire. It was a very pretty place. Sadly she couldn't see the vegetation or the people because it was getting darker outside. To Lillynette' s joy, the man apologized and promised to stop questioning her for her purpose in the Shire. He informed her that they were getting very close to the home of Bilbo Baggins, who was the hobbit that lived in Bag End. According to him, everyone admired Bilbo for he was a very simple and nice hobbit.

"He was very troubled today though," the Hobbit, Hob of Haysend, remembered, "Some man showed up at his front door today. He was an old man, long gray beard, and blue cap. He might have been a wizard or merchant."

Lillynette managed to suppress her laughter at the thought of Gandalf selling trinkets under his long cloak and carrying a bag of change in his hat. It would be quite the sight indeed. "Yes a merchant is the more likely." She managed a smile and had to cover her mouth to stop from laughing.

Hob only looked at her strangely before shrugging his shoulders, and continuing the way up to Bag End.

When they stopped, Lillynette looked at the small door and silently thanked whoever made her small. She hoped greatly that Gandalf would hit his head on the way in and maybe on a very big chandelier.

Hob stopped in front of the she-elf, and managed a small quirk of the lips, "Well, here we are. It's been nice meeting you, Miss..?"

She took his hand, which she could tell surprised the hobbit, "Lillynette. And thanks a ton Hob, I probably wouldn't have found Bag End without ya." Lillynette winked at the smaller man, and a very noticeable blush appeared on his cheeks.

"It was no problem, Miss Lillynette. I just hope Mr. Baggins is home," he smiled, and bowed before walking back down the path. "It was nice meeting you!"

Lillynette waved back to him as he walked backwards to watch her, "Likewise, Mr. Hob!" she called back, and suddenly lurched forward when she saw him stumble on a rock, then tumble down the hill.

She said a silent prayer for his safety before walking up to the front of the door. Lillynette found it a bit ironic to have another fence just to get to your door, but she continued until she reached the green door. Clearing her throat, Lillynette knocked on the front door.

She heard some very angry muttering, and a very loud burp, from inside when the door opened. In front of her was a very angry Hobbit, with curly brown hair and overalls. "What?! Who else could possibly come to make my day any worse?!"

"Lillynette?" she replied slowly before he regained some sort of composure.

He seemed surprised, but not completely shocked that she was at his home. "Great another person to make my day worse! How many more of these people are coming?! No, better yet where in the world are they coming from?!" he shouted, losing his composure again and ranting.

She scowled at the hobbit, and let out an angry huff. First Gandalf, then getting bribed, then the orc, then the fat inn keeper, then the annoying hobbit, and what's this? Another annoying Hobbit!

Lillynette glared at him, "Nice to meet you, too."


	6. Pride and Party

The hobbit, Bilbo, had not expected her any of the others that came along. When she walked into his dining room, she wasn't sure what she had expected. Maybe other elves, men, or maybe more old wizards. What she saw was much different...dwarfs. Lillynette swore, swore on her life that she would never travel let alone work with the following; orcs, and dwarfs. Now she could also add wizards to her list. She cursed herself, she first thing she should have thought of was dwarfs when Gandalf said gold. Not living in a cottage or having some kind of magical creature make her taller. She knew that even now if she back out Gandalf would whip out the contract and her pride would take it from there. The dwarfs were all crowded into his dining room, and drinking ale. Lots and lots of ale...

They were feasting on all of Bilbo's food and using table clothes as napkins. Poor Blibo's entire pantry was empty and all he had was in front of those greedy fat dwarfs. Only 12 were at the table, excluding Gandalf. Gandalf! She glared at him something fierce, and he waved gingerly at her. She agreed to receiving gold, but this?! To dwarfs?! She prepared to leave, and forget she ever walked in on a room full of her enemy before someone had to ruin it.

"Ain't that an elf?" A small voice asked, and all the talking at the table ceased. They all turned to her, and even with her back to them she could feel all their eyes trained on her. She slowly as not to frighten them into chopping her up with an ax, until she faced them entirely. They were all looking at her in curiosity, and not a single one looked threatening to her. Did Gandalf really think this little gathering could complete another "death quest?" She doubted it.

"No, that must be another hobbit. Or maybe a female dwarf!" Another one smiled, and Lillynette glared at him with as much anger she had shown Gandalf.

"I am not a hobbit, nor a female dwarf. As you can see I have no beard on my face or feet, "she answered coolly, but her twitching made it obvious she wasn't very calm.

"He meant no offense, lassy," an older looking dwarf spoke up, and nodded his head at her. She scowled again as Gandalf got up to introduce her. As he got up, she glared at him her eyes telling him how much she enjoyed this. Inside, she was wailing. Her pride or gold? Work with dwarfs who probably would cover her in dirt, or a mountain of gold?

They all stared at her in utter shock, "did anyone ever tell you it's rude to stare, dwarfy?"

"This is my old friend Lillynette, daughter of Thranduil," he explained, and she could tell that some of them began to dislike her. They had feelings of betrayal probably for Gandalf, and rage for her being there. When she was younger Lillynette discovered the secret of her golden eyes, the ability to read peoples thoughts. She could tell when they were happy, sad, angry, in pain, or in love. She found it quite useful when trying to lecture someone, or trying to get someone to tell her important information. She had never met a person whose thoughts she couldn't read with her golden eyes, and all she had to do was make eye contact. Only after making eye contact once, could she read their thought until their untimely death. It was a grand power, and it made her feel powerful to know what the each of them thought about.

"So you invited the Elf King's daughter, who we swore to never help or trust, and you bring his daughter on our quest?" One frowned, he looked similar to the dwarf who had called her "lassy," but his beard was smaller and it was gray. Plus it was braided in the most ridiculous manner.

"I don't need a dwarf consent or blessing to go on this little "quest", she mocked and they could tell," the only reason I agreed was so this old wizard would leave me alone for the rest of my life." It was funny to watch their sudden change of thoughts like the shifting of a storm, suddenly more of them disliked her, another found her very brave, and another thought her very beautiful. She couldn't help but smirk at that one. Sure she was as pretty as an angel, but she was about as wicked as a devil.

"Excuse me! It's nice to know that a elf princess is in my home, but why are you all here?" Bilbo demanded, and Lillynette turned around again to face him. " Please pardon me, Lady Lillynette. I hate to be rude, but your not welcome here either. I do not know you or these dwarfs, so if you could all leave now."

They all stared at him for a moment, and Lillynette could feel the swirl of thoughts in the room again. They were all incredibly bored, and even though they were looking at the hobbit their minds were somewhere else. The hobbit however was very frightened and angry, but he was too scared to order them more fiercely to leave his home. "As I was saying he might not like this."

They continued to speak like Bilbo hadn't just told all of them to leave and even her. She refused however to yell at him, this must be very annoying for him. To suddenly have all these dwarfs invade his home, and have a elf princess anger them. " Sorry, Mr. Baggins but I don't think they'll leave."

Bilbo sighed, running a hand through his hair, and then looking up at her, "would you mind leaving, Lady Lillynette?" Despite the stupid dwarf calling her a dwarf, she wasn't going to tear out his hair in his home. She felt bad for him, because she knew that Gandalf had brought him into this and once Gandalf made up his mind, that was it.

She smiled at the smaller being, "not at all. If anything, I would prefer that instead of staying here." She walked past him, ignoring his appreciative emotion and goodbye from the others. They were beginning to be thankful, one was upset because "the beautiful elf lady" was leaving, and one , probably Gandalf was disappointed. Lillynette scoffed, she could careless what Gandalf thought about her or her pride or the others. She exited the room, and was about to leave when she heard Gandalf. Damn that wizard, couldn't he just forget the dumb contract? His thoughts were triumph mixed with amusement. She growled, and placed a steady hand on the wall before turning around to humph at the wizard.

"Do you not remember the contract, my dear?" He smiled, and she frowned, "this contract binds you to the quest until it's finished and it doesn't say anything about giving you permission to leave."

Lillynette moaned, and put her small elf face in her petite hands, "but they all don't want me here, and I don't want to be here. So doesn't it work out?" She felt miserable and as stupid as a dwarf. She should have known that Gandalf wouldn't have let her leave so easily without bringing up the contract. Her pride or gold? Dwarfs or platters of golden coins? The smell of meat or a diamond necklace? She hated her pride more than anything now; it wouldn't let her leave. If she said she would jump into a volcano in front of them, she would make them watch her do so.

The thoughts swirling around where those of amusement, pity, and still the one dwarf who found her pretty. By Elrond, why did she sign it again?

"Ah we don't mind lassy. Your more than welcome in our company," the same dwarf smiled, and she saw him wince. Another must have kicked him under the table. Lillynette offered him a weak smile, before Gandalf grabbed her hand leading her back to the table of dwarfs. As she passed Bilbo, she mouthed sorry, and he mouthed back you tried.

Gandalf sat her down at the head of the table, "now these are the twelve dwarfs who you will be traveling with. Nori, Ori, Dori, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Bombur, Bofur, Bifur, Balin, and Dwalin." He took a deep breath and the end of the speech. Lillynette looked around at the dwarfs only three had spoken to her or about her. Balin was the one who called her lassy, Ori was the dwarf who gave her away, and Dori was the one who suggested she leave. She tried to pinpoint the others but Gandalf had not pointed them out. He had only said their names, when she spoke with them she would have to catch their names.

What? Speak with them? Why would she even consider that? She wanted nothing to do with them, let alone know all their names. "Have some food, elf woman." A dwarf suggested, he was a dark haired dwarf with a strange hat that pointed out on either side of his head. Lillynette blinked in surprised, for all she sensed in him was good intentions, and kindness.

He seems nice enough, she thought. They quickly made her a plate of food, picking up only meat much to her dismay. She quickly grabbed her own plate, and put some bread on it since it was the only thing on the table she could eat. The only thing on the table was meat, and bread not a single green food to be found.

"To more ale!" Balin cheered, along with the others. She picked up her mug of ale, and clashed it with the others. Perhaps she would stick around for a while, that is until all the ale was gone.


	7. Immunity to Gold

Lillynette didn't like the dwarfs but they weren't awful. She still hadn't memorized all their names because they all looked the same, almost. She hadn't bothered to learn them either, because she would get this quest over with fast. Then she would hunt that stupid pale orc who had a strange fascination with her, she was just hopping she wouldn't run into him. The last thing she needed was for them to get involved in her own problems, her pride wouldn't let her ask for help. She would have to handle Azog the filer by herself, and she wouldn't tell Gandalf even if she needed the help. Her pride was her greatest curse after all.

She enjoyed listening to them rant and ramble but she could only catch half the conversation even with her sharp intuition and ears. They spoke with low voices, and usually laughed halfway through each sentence. Lillynette ate as little as she could, and used Bilbo's silverware for their intended use not for picking food out of her teeth. Despite leaving Mirkwood, and being introduced to ale she had still kept her manners and elf tongue. She had not forgotten how to properly eat, and it amused her to see the others stuffing their faces while she calmly savored the food. Bilbo hadn't calmed down in the slightest; he was still running around and keeping the dwarfs in order. Sometimes he would stop to watch her drink as the others would as well.

"Lass, I have never seen someone drink as much as you do," Balin praised, "you would rival our king." Lillynette ignored him as more drinks were passed to her, but her cheeks did not turn red with drunken craze. The ale had no effect on her, a trait she was sure Legolas had as well. She and Legolas often drank ale when their father wasn't present, and they would both lock themselves in their rooms afterwards. Legolas was the only one allowed in and out of Mirkwood so he occasionally brought her back ale to try. And so her high immunity of ale was born when she was only ten years of age.

"Yes, in all my years Lillynette has consumed the most ale. Perhaps out of all the elves," Gandalf mused, as he helped pass another mug down to the sober elf.

"Nope. My brother has actually drunk more than I have when he leaves Mirkwood." Lillynette slurred, then hiccuped. "Legs he lost, had way more then me."

Gandalf yanked the cup out of her hands, and slid it across the table for another to finish, "perhaps that is enough, my dear." Lillynette pouted, before digging into the food instead. More emotions were popping up from the other dwarfs and she found that fewer of them disliked her now. They were all amused and shocked at her actions, because they most likely expected her to turn her nose down to something like alcohol. Balin seemed to take a liking in her, but he also seemed unsteady about something. She knew if she asked, however, he would only avoid the question or ask how she knew.

"For an elf, especially one from Mirkwood, your not all that bad," a dwarf commented and Lillynette looked up to see the source, "maybe it you being her won't be that bad." It was the dwarf with the strange hat and the braids sticking out of either side of his head.

Lillynette frowned before drawing a dagger from it's sleeve, and throwing it at his hat. It struck the hat with enough force to stab it into the wall behind him. "I do not care if you like me or you do. I am here on business and that's that. I don't want to know any of you because after this we will never meet again. And I won't stand for any of you insulting my family or father. So if you would like to burn some anger, then let's go outside, " She told them rather bluntly, but she meant every word. Their emotions ranged from shock to respect to excitement. None of them picked a fight with her, and she wondered briefly if they might have been in Erebor when she spoke out against the king.

Time passed slowly, and Lillynette soon found another cup of ale placed in front of her. Where they trying to get her drunk? Because that would be very hard, but she wasn't one to complain about free ale. Gandalf had gone from the table and Bilbo wasn't watching their every move. They were probably conversing somewhere. Lillynette couldn't help but feel sorry for Bilbo; all his food was gone and now he was going to experience first hand a Gandalf death quest. He probably thought he was being robbed or curse for a bad deed. She could not blame him for thinking the later.

"I just don't understand what there doing in my house. First the dwarfs and now the elf princess?!" Bilbo muttered, but Lillynette's acute elf ears heard it all. All elves had exceptional hearing, they could hear an army from miles away, or an arrow being shot from more. Lillynette stood up to go explain to the poor hobbit what he was being wrapped into before it was too late. She walked past the dwarfs who filled her cup as she went, now they were just being generous. As she passed, she spotted one of the dwarfs looking at her back, at her bow. She saw him admiring the craft of the bow, and it's elegant curves, he must have been the one who owned the bow she saw when she entered. Even if all dwarfs were awful, ones that truly understood the greatness of the bow were worthy of her friendship. She liked him immediately, not to mention he did't have ugly features like the others. He had nice, slightly curled hair and a light beard accompanied by brown eyes. As she approached the ranting hobbit and her new enemy, another dwarf interrupted her.

"Excuse me I hate to interrupt, but where do I put my plate?" He asked in a very soft voice that brimmed with innocence. Before Bilbo could reply though, the same dwarf as the one she saw sitting next to the other dwarf. Lillynette sighed, she really needed to learn their names. Their was way to many "this dwarf" or "the other dwarf."

"Give it here, Ori." He said, and took it from Ori throwing it to another dwarf behind Gandalf.

"Be careful!" Lillynette cried as she tried to race toward them, but was stopped by the bow dwarf. He placed his arm out in front of her to stop her as more plates were thrown by Gandalf. And the other dwarfs began to throw their plates to the other dwarfs, "what in Elrond's name are you doing?"

"Don't you worry, Lilly!" He winked at her, and Lillynette suddenly felt very weak, "by the way you have a very nice bow. Will have to have target practice sometime soon, eh?" Lillynette frowned, but he patted her on the back and walked off. Lillynette wasn't sure why that dwarf had the audacity to act so...friendly with her. And Lilly? Not even her father had called her that or Legolas.

Bilbo pushed past her to see the dwarfs pounding their silverware on the table, "you'll blunt the knives!"

The dwarf whose hat she had shot into a wall laughed, "you here that lads. He says will blunt the knives!" Soon the other dwarfs were doing the same and stomping their feet underneath the table. Despite herself, Lillynette clapped along while they continued to throw plates back and forth.

"Chip the glasses and crack the plates! Blunt the knives and bend the forks! That's what Bilbo Baggins hates- Smash the bottles and burn the corks! Cut the cloth and tread on the fat! Pour the milk on the pantry floor! Leave the bones on the bedroom mat! Splash the wine on every door! Dump the crocks in a boiling bawl; Pound them up with a thumping pole; And when you've finished, if any are whole, Send them down the hall to roll ! That's what Bilbo Baggins hates! So, carefully! carefully with the plates!" The dwarfs sang, and to Lillynette's astonishment they weren't dropping a single plate. Gandalf and soon Lillynette were dodging plates left and right.

When Bilbo came to the table to see what had been broken, he was greeted by the sight of perfectly stacked plates, and clean ones as well. Lillynette clapped in astonishment, and the emotion of pride rippled through the room. Suddenly a knock resonated in the home, and for once the dwarfs went silent. "He's here," Gandalf announced.

Lillynette was about to ask whom, but was soon pushed to the front door by the other dwarfs. She was in the front of the crowd, before she sensed a feeling of dread and worry she felt someone grab her hand and tug her to the back. "It would be better if your not the first thing our King sees."

She opened her mouth to protest, but Gandalf had opened the door. She peered over the others (it wasn't hard) to see who this "king" was and why Gandalf didn't mention his name to her before coming. That's when she saw him.

Lillynette felt a sense of remembrance go through as she could swear she had seen the dwarf before. No, NO! It couldn't be him, she swore to never see him again. He was the King? King of what? Erebor? Where was Thrain? Or Thrór? Lillynette tried to push past the dwarfs to escape, she couldn't be in the same room as him. She hated, no loathed him. "I have to-"

"Ah Gandalf. I thought you said this place would be easier to find. I got lost twice, I probably wouldn't have had found it at all if it wasn't for the mark on the door," Thorin informed, and walked in. Lillynette stumbled backwards slightly, and Balin looked back at her in worry.

He hadn't changed from the last time they had met. He had a dark beard connected with his dark mustache, but it was still small not long enough for a braid. His hair had gotten slightly longer, and was streaked with silver, maybe from stress? He had a fur coat and the symbol of Erebor on his belt buckle. "No that can't be the door was painted last week."

"No I put it on myself," Gandalf confessed before turning to Bilbo, " Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce you to the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield." Lillynette paled, so it was him. She wasn't dreaming. " Oh and where is she?"

Balin pushed Lillynette in front of the crowd, and she grasped onto his arm silently begging him to stop. She halted in front of Thorin who hadn't moved from his spot. "Ah and here is my old friend and life long drinking partner, Lillynette."

Lillynette looked up as she heard his foot steps, and stared into his eyes. He stared back at her with a expressionless gaze, and he didn't move. She expected to hear his thoughts, his hate for her ,or his strong dislike for seeing her again.

Her eyes widened when she realized she couldn't read his thoughts. She couldn't tell what was he thinking.


	8. The Laughing Princess

It was impossible, it just couldn't be. She refused to believe it, it just wasn't possible! The very idea that their was a living breathing creature whose thoughts she couldn't read made her crazy. Crazy enough to scream and rip her hair to shreds, because it was just silly. She wouldn't have minded if she couldn't read Gandalf's thoughts or the other dwarfs but not reading Thorin's? It practically screamed trouble and warned her to get away.

She did not trust Thorin. She never would, she was absolutely sure that if he asked her to trust him she would jump off the nearest cliff. She couldn't trust him after all, he was her sworn enemy. Lillynette bit her lip as she watched the dwarf king speak to Bilbo in a superior-inferior tone as he did when they met as children.

"So you are the hobbit," Thorin Woodenshield mused as he walked around Bilbo, "tell me Mr. Baggins have you done much fighting? Ax or sword is your weapon of choice?"

Bilbo swallowed, and she felt his nervousness seep into the air, "I'm fairly good at conkers if you must know. Although I fail to see why that is relevant."

Thorin sighed silently, "thought as much. He looks more like a grosser than a burglar." While the other dwarfs and even Gandalf found this amusing, Lillynette found it quite rude and stupid. The other dwarfs went back to the dining room along with Thorin and Gandalf.

"What have I got myself into?" Bilbo moaned before dragging himself after Gandalf. Lillynette nodded grimly agreeing with the hobbit fully. What had SHE got herself into?

She refused to sit or stand within two, no four dwarf lengths of him. She decided to stand instead next to the dwarf who had called her Lily, and who's name she learned was Kili. He told her that their names rhymed, and Lillynette was surprised to find they did. Lily, Kili. Perhaps she would get along with him more then she expected to. Lillynette dragged the pieces of the puzzle together as she tried to think why all these dwarfs weren't in Erebor, or why they needed Bilbo. Gandalf, and even Kili dodged the subject with ease as if they didn't trust her, she couldn't blame them. She had acted so strangely to Thorin, maybe she was a spy to them? Lillynette scowled, sure she would make the prefect spy, with all the drinking and carefree attitude.

"Why was Thorin Woodenshield so late?" Lillynette whispered to the other dwarf standing beside her. He had a huge hammer under his arms in a standing position, and a bald head with hair sticking out from the side. She couldn't remember his name.

"Oakenshield," Lillynette heard Balin correct. In which she responded with a simple roll of the eyes.

"Our King, Thorin Oakenshield, was at a meeting with the other Dwarf lords," the dwarf responded slyly, and she noticed he stressed the word Oakenshield. What did these dwarfs expect her to do? Like him? Say his name correctly? Never! She promised herself she would call him Woodenshield until the day she died. Or he died, whichever one came first.  
Hopefully his.

"What news from the meeting? Will they stay with us?" Balin asked, and Thorin nodded. It irked her not to know more about him. If he was happy about seeing them, sad about bad news, enraged because the dwarfs refused him, or maybe stupid from getting lost. Knowing something about what he felt would be grand.

"Aye. Some will," Thorin answered, and the dwarfs cheered in triumph. Lillynette failed to see what was good about some, wasn't more better? For dwarfs at least, elves can work well with small numbers or larger numbers. She ,all by her lonesome, could take down twelve orcs with arrows to spare ,but dwarfs would have more trouble. The only good thing about his arrival was that their was no more loud burps, Thorin ate only soup and drank only ale. Lillynette scornfully admitted that he had some manners for a dwarf, but that was something she would never admit aloud.

"What of the dwarfs of the Iron Hills? Their staying with us?" Another asked. Lillynette sighed; she was really going to have to learn their names.

Thorin looked away grimly and shook his head, 'they will not come." The dwarfs all released a disappointed sigh, but Lillynette grinned. If these Iron dwarfs weren't going to join them then she was happy! The less people who saw her traveling with her worst enemy the better. "They say this quest is ours and ours alone."

"Yours," Lillynette coughed under her breath, but Thorin either didn't notice or ignored her. The dwarfs looked around incredulously, and Lillynette sensed dread in the air. Lillynette was puzzled; what were they up to? Why was a dwarf meeting called by Woodenshield? And what quest?!

"Your going on a quest," Bilbo spoke up from behind Thorin and Gandalf. Bilbo had been so quiet, she had almost forgotten that he was there. Apparently he was still listening though.

Gandalf cleared his throat, "Bilbo,my dear fellow, would you mind giving us some light?" Bilbo hesitantly complied before leaving to fetch a small candle. Lillynette watched curiously as Gandalf pulled out her contract (she hissed) and a map. Lillynette's curiosity shot through the room, a map? A map always means treasure! However in order to put up a best example, she doesn't move from her spot in order to not get closer to her nightmare. "Far to the east over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak."

Bilbo places the candle above the map, and from across the room Lillynette can see it clearly. A mountain with a dragon flying overhead and the words, Lonely mountain, beside it. "The Lonely Mountain," Bilbo reads.

Shivers went down the golden eyed elves back, she hadn't heard the name in a while. She remembered briefly going into the kingdom, Erebor she remembered, and hating the experience. She had been insulted (by both king and grandson) and had been introduced to her love of gold. The real question now was why were they here? And why was a dragon flying over their home?  
Lillynette had been gone from the world for several years, and with it missing most of the new information that developed. She wouldn't know if Mirkwood was still stable, or if her father was still searching for her.

Lillynette heard more speaking but her mind was still on the map. On the side was elvish. She couldn't read it because of her point of view but it was most likely some kind of code. "Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold," a dwarf began. Ravens?

More speaking occurred but she only heard one word through her sharp ears. "...beast." Lillynette and Bilbo looked up from the map to look at the lone dwarf with question eyes.

"Beast, what beast?" Bilbo and Lillynette questioned but Lillynette ,with her superior mind, began to place pieces together. A beast? A quest? NO!

"Well that would be a reference to Smaug the terrible. Chiefest and greatest calamity of our age." The pointy hat dwarf informed and Lillynette scowled. Just when she understood, it got complicated again. "Fire breather, teeth like razors, claws like hooks, and extremely fond of precious metals."

By now Bilbo looked tired and pale, his feelings of annoyance only added to her observation, "yes I know what a dragon is." He kept kneading his hands and folding his arms.

Suddenly the very soft spoken dwarf stood from his chair, "I'm not afraid. I'm up for it, I'll give him a taste of dwarfish iron right up his-

Lillynette couldn't handle it and she pointed a finger at him, "Don't you dare finish that!" She ordered, and the dwarfs commanded him to sit before he  
"made the elf woman faint." They laughed at her and even Thorin smirked at her from across the table with that same annoying smirk he used as a child.

"The task would be hard enough with an army behind us, we are numbered just thirteen. Not thirteen of the best," Balin began before looking over Thorin's shoulder at Bilbo, "nor the brightest." The dwarfs guessed that the comment directed towards Bilbo (and possibly her) was for them and they immediately argued with another.

"We may be few in number," Kili's brother broke in while looking at the others who had gone silent, "but were fighters. All of us, to the last dwarf!"

Despite her hatred for dwarfs, Lillynette couldn't help but feel touched by his words of encouragement and wisdom, or maybe amused at his attempt of  
intelligence. "You forget we also have a wizard and a elf huntress in our company. Gandalf and Lillynette would have killed hundreds of dragons in their time!"

"Well I"m not actually part of your company, " the dwarfs looked at the elf princess, "but Gandalf used to tell me all the time about all the dragons he killed. He's killed more then hundreds, thousands among thousands." For the first time that night, Gandalf glared at the princess who only grinned in triumph.

"Well no.." Gandalf began as the other dwarfs took what Lillynette said to heart, "I wouldn't say thousands...

"How many then?" The one besides the soft dwarf questioned, "how many dragons have you killed?" Thorin looked over at Gandalf as he began to cough and not reply to the question. Lillynette stifled a giggle at his antics, and the other dwarfs got impatient. They demanded answers and began to fight while Lillynette kept repeating the words "thousands among thousands."

"Enough!" Thorin roared over the conversations, and even Lillynette went silent. "If we have read the signs, do you not think others will have read them too? Rumors have begun to spread the dragon, Smaug, has not been seen in sixty years. Eyes look east to the mountain wondering, weighing the risk, perhaps the vast wealth of our people remains unprotected, do we sit back and do nothing? Or do we take this chance to take back Erebor?!" The dwarfs cheered in agreement, except one elf.  
Who laughed instead.

Lillynette was laughing. Laughing at herself for not getting it sooner, and at the dwarfs. Had her father not warned them? Had he not told them to stop collecting precious metals? Perhaps dwarfs did not change from the time she had been gone, they were still greedy fools. "I do not understand what you find so amusing, Princess." Thorin spat coldly, but Lillynette paid him no mind.

"My father warned you." Lillynette chuckled, and shook her head, "he told you to stop but you did nothing. He warned you that if you kept collecting metals a dragon would appear. You continued, and look? Erebor has fallen, and is under the rule of a dragon? That, King under nothing, is what I find amusing." Even without her golden eye enchantments Lillynette could tell Thorin was enraged, no furious. At what? That she had been right? Or her father had?

Thorin glared at her with such hate, and Lillynette glared back. She did not care if she offended him, she would do it a hundred times over. He had done something horrible to her, and her life. For that, she would never forgive him.


	9. Secrets Untold

"Lillynette!" Gandalf snarled, and the elf girl looked away from the kingdom-less King. Fighting ,to her, was mind over matter, she did not mind and he did not matter. So also refused to fight with a mindless dwarf, especially a "royal one."

"You forget," Balin continued, "the front gate is sealed. Their is no way in," the other dwarfs sighed in defeat.

"That my dear Balin is not entirely true," Gandalf smiled and out of his hand, like magic, appeared a large key. In all truth Lillynette could not see what was so special about it, but the look on Thorin's face told her different.  
The key must open some secret door, Lillynette concluded as Thorin's face twisted into something of joy.

"Who gave you this?" Thorin murmured breathlessly as he watched Gandalf spin it in his hand.

"It was given to me by your father," Gandalf answered, "by Thrain." Lillynette was puzzled (again), for she could not see any dwarf resembling Thrain. Was he outside? Did he leave the quest to his son? Better yet where was Thror? "For safe keeping," Gandalf added, "it is yours now."

The dwarfs and Bilbo watched Thorin grasp the key as if his very life depended on it. "If there's a key," Kili's brother beamed, "then their must be a door." Lillynette raised an eyebrow, how stupid were dwarfs?

Even Gandalf seemed confused, "these ruins speak of a secret passage through the lower halls."

"There's another way in," Kili gasped as he looked at the others in awe. Lillynette frowned, he was not to bright either.

"Alas I can't read this text. Their are few who can," Gandalf confessed, and Thorin frowned. He then proceeded to point at Lillynette, who scowled at him fiercely,

"Woman, can you read this?" He asked her. Lillynette didn't move and motioned for him to hand it to her. She told herself she wouldn't get any closer to him then she had to. He pushed the paper over to her so she picked up the paper none to carefully and heard all the dwarfs take in a sharp breath of warning. Lillynette looked at the secret message and blinked; she had never seen this hand writing before nor the words. She couldn't read it, or decide what it was.

"I've never seen writing like this before," Lillynette confessed admitted, "this looks elvish but if it is I have never seen these characters before."

She pushed the letter back to him, and was careful to draw her hand away before they touched. "Even if Lillynette could read the text the doors would be invisible even to an elf," Gandalf disclosed, "which is why we need him, Thorin." Gandalf looked over to Thorin for a few moments as if they were having a conversation that she and the others could not see. Finally Thorin sighed, and nodded to Balin who began to rustle in his coat.

"Here it is!" Balin chided, "the contract. Time required , funeral arrangements. " Balin handed it to Thorin who rudely shoved it into Bilbo's hands. He turned to read the contract and Thorin stood to whisper into Gandalf's ears. His voice was coarse, but the words were unmistakable. Lillynette heard him say some words along the line of fate, responsibility and guaranteeing.

Lillynette shook her head, before turning to hear what Bilbo was mumbling about while he read the contract. "Cash and delivery...up to but not exceeding too..seems fair...will not be responsible for injuries inflicted or sustained...including but not limited too... lacerations...incineration?" Bilbo exclaimed, turning the flap on the side and then turning to them,"incineration?"

"Aye! He'll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye," the point hat man added. She desperately needed to learn their names.

Bilbo swallowed and blinked his hobbit eyes as if trying to understand something, and began to sigh.

"You alright, laddy?" Balin asked and Lillynette slowly approached the hobbit being careful not to get close enough to Thorin. He seemed awfully pale and Lillynette knew fully well what that meant. She had looked the same multiple times like her first cup of ale or when her father found out about her stash of it.

"Yeah," Bilbo assured before breathing deeply, and swallowing some more. Slowly the pointy hat dwarf stood and waved his pipe in the air to get his point across, "feel a bit faint."

"Just think furnace with wings," he suggested, but Lillynette could tell it was helping poor Bilbo feel any better about the whole incineration deal.

"I need air," Bilbo choked, and began to look anywhere but the dwarfs.

"Flash of light, searing pain, and **poof** your nothing more then a pile of ash," he informed and Lillynette wished she could reach across the table to knock him unconscious. He wasn't helping him at all.

Bilbo suddenly stood upright,"nope." Then he proceeded to faint before all of them, and for the moment Lillynette broke her Thorin rule for a moment to help the poor hobbit who had been scared into fainting on the spot. She pushed past Gandalf, careful not to touch Thorin, and knelled before the hobbit.

"Bilbo!" Lillynette shouted, and proceeded to hit him across the face to wake him, "Wake up! Wake up!"

"Very helpful, Bofur," Gandalf muttered.

After Lillynette had picked up Bilbo and placed him on the coach at Gandalf's request she helped herself to a bit of bread. She was munching on the bit of bread that she had found hidden in Bilbo's coat (that he must have hidden from the dwarfs). She propped her feet on the table, and munched quietly as the other dwarfs left the kitchen to look around Bilbo's humble abode. Lillynette felt a slight pang when she sat in her chair and it seemed to appear somewhere on her back, Lillynette shrugged it off thinking it to be her bow.

"You do have a nice bow," a voice interrupted her eating, and she stiffened thinking the deep voice to be that of Thorin's. As she turned around she was relieved to see it was only Kili's brother, who she had learned was Fili. He looked somewhat like Kili, but instead of having dark hair it was almost brown and he had a much bigger beard then Kili as well. He didn't seem skilled with a bow, but he looked like the type to carry around swords more then an elf weapon.

"Why thank you,"she responded before going back to munching. She didn't bother to ask him if he wanted to stay and stare at her while she at nor did she invite him to sit.  
He did both.

He sat across from her and watched her like a hawk. Lillynette pretended he wasn't looking, but truly his gaze was annoying and very rude. Did any dwarfs have manners. "I came to ask you why you have qualms with our king."

Lillynette stopped munching, and her blood ran cold. Her heartbeat went faster and her eyes widened. She licked her suddenly chapped lips, her eyes trained on the floor with her eye brows scrunched in a furry line. For someone, for a dwarf to ask, to inquire about her past with another dwarf **especially **that dwarf in particular was unthinkable. She looked at him in shock; how dare he ask her about her past! How dare he thinks he ought to know! How dare he think, even for a moment, she would tell him. Instantly she stood up, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and glared fiercely into his eyes. "How dare you! You may know that I am a elf from Mirkwood, but you know **nothing** of my past with your _"king"_. It's my bussiness, and if you want to know so bad you are welcome to ask him yourself!" She snarled her back heating up as if she had been branded like cattle, and her eyes glared with icy coldness.

"Drop him!" A new voice commanded, and Lillynette hissed recognizing the voice to be Thorin's. He was holding a firm grip on his sword, with Balin behind him. "NOW!"

Lillynette released Fili from her iron grip, pulled back from him, and rushed out of the kitchen brushing past Thorin. She stopped to add, "Your King did something terrible to me. I will never **forgive**him." She exited the kitchen leaving one confused, one surprised, and one angry dwarf alone in the kitchen with their thoughts. The pain in her back disappeared, and Lillynette questioned why it hurt in the first place. She didn't remember getting injured their in the past weeks, or months. Maybe a rash or poison oak? She would find out later.

As the night went on she found herself sitting on a bench in Bilbo's home. She refused to move from the spot as she began to feel slightly bad for her outburst. It wasn't his fault, really, he was only curious or maybe he thought it interesting. She had yelled at him, and been so rude as well...Wait! Lillynette scoffed under her breath, she had no reason to feel bad! He was the one sticking his head where it didn't belong. He shouldn't have asked her it was as plain as dusk that it was a private matter between herself and Woodenshield. The dwarf, Fili, should have left her alone. The other dwarfs began to migrate to the living room where she had first gone through to get to the dining room. It had a fire place and was filled with paintings of members of Bilbo's family even though she didn't get a good look at any. As she sat in her spot, she detected with her sharp ears, humming. A lone hum that began deep and low. She didn't move, she refused to let her pride put her in the same room as Thorin or Kili.

Far over the misty mountains cold  
To dungeons deep and caverns old  
We must away ere break of day  
To find our long forgotten gold.  
The pines were roaring on the height,  
The winds were moaning in the night.  
The fire was red, it flaming spread;  
The trees like torches biased with light.


	10. Falling Down

Lillynette was awoken that morning rather rudely, when Fili dumped a bucket of cold water on her. She thought it most likely to be payback, but he insisted that it was the only way. Her precious hair soaked to nothing more than a mop on her head, and her elf coat was nothing more than an itchy, and cold cover. She scowled at him, but to her surprise his emotions were not of anger. They were filled with amusement and respect, so it wasn't a total surprise when he smiled at her adding _your apology is accepted, Lily_. She felt the urge to hit him for acting so familiar and kind to her. Didn't he remember how rudely she had treated him, or how her eyes pierced him like arrows? Why wasn't he scornful towards her?

He handed her the bow he had removed from her back when she went to sleep the night, and told her that Bilbo had declined them. She pouted; she was hoping he would join them; he was an amusing little man. It would also give her different company then the traitor of a wizard and easily forgiving dwarfs. He also gave her the multiple daggers she stuffed in her boots, and pockets. She blushed and shuddered at the thought of one of them feeling up her body for the different tools, especially the ones on her waist.

"Lillynette I trust you'll still be joining us?" Gandalf questioned as the others piled in front of the door to leave Bilbo's humble home. They looked at her expectantly and the swirl of emotions told her some of them wanted her to go. She bit her lip; if she traveled with them her pride would be taking a grave hit, but all the gold in Erebor up for grabs?

She sighed, pretending she didn't want it, "I did sign a contract." The only dwarfs who cheered for her were Fili, Kil, Bofur, and Ori. The others took one look at Thorin's angry gaze and bowed their heads, but they didn't need to say anything. Their emotions told her that even without Thorin's glare, they had not wanted her to come. A pang of hurt that only lasted for a moment ran through her but she quickly reminded herself she could care less what they thought of her. All she wanted was their gold. At least four of them, excluding Gandalf, would enjoy her company.

Together the twelve dwarfs, the one wizard and the gold loving elf took off from Bilbo's to the outside world but not before Lillynette secretly crept away to the where the contract lay waiting for Bilbo's signature where she wrote an extra message for him. She snatched something out of the kitchen, and raced back to join the others. _I will not suffer alone_, she grinned evilly and shut the door to the home.

The dwarfs and Gandalf had arrived by horseback she wasn't entirely surprised to find that they had another small pony for Bilbo. Lillynette rubbed her hands together deviously, Bilbo would wake soon and he would come along because she had something of his that might be precious to him. As they mounted their ponies, she wasn't all shocked to find none of them offered her the last one. Not that she did not want the cute petite brown pony; she just preferred to travel above in the trees. So while the dwarfs muttered how strange she looked trying to climb the tall tree, she smirked as she scaled it with ease. She knew exactly where to put her thin booted feet in every small nook and she was soon staring at them from above. Crouched on the highest branch she looked below at their awed faces and Woodenshield's impassive one. He kicked his pony and they were off, to even make it difficult he brought them into a slightly faster pace.

Startled the others followed at a similar speed, but Lillynette only laughed at Woodenshield's attempt to leave her behind. She jumped off her branch with speed unmatched the branches not even creaking under her light weight, and when they gave her an extra step she took it greedily. Soon she was catching up to the dwarf king who thought he had lost her. She flipped into the air instead of stopping with him and continued for another two trees before climbing to the top branch.

"Come on, your slowing down Woodenshield!" She called back grinning while waving, and everyone but Gandalf looked shocked.

Lillynette could tell Woodenshield's pride was injured as she raced ahead of him when he thought he had the edge on her. Her pride ,however, was singing triumphantly and stepping on his face as well the mere thought of his pride wailing in a corner made her grin all the more.

"Wait! Wait!" A voice shouted, and Lillynette stopped to find who was calling to them. A smirk spread across her face when she realized it was Bilbo who was calling for them, and she gingerly hopped down from the tree to come see him. Her feet thudded silently on the ground as she came to greet him when Gandalf stopped the horses.

"Bilbo! You came!" Lillynette cheered, and wrapped the tired hobbit in a hug. The poor hobbit was so tired he almost collapsed into her arms, but she managed to keep him upright.

"Yes well, I'll be wanting it back now,"he whispered and Lillynette laughed kindly handing him back his dolie. She had briefly heard him complaining over it so she figured it was the best way to get him to go, "thank you, my lady."

Lillynette smiled kindly, "just Lillynette is fine." She winked at him and he looked away blushing. She was taller than him by a few inches, she was as tall as Thorin but he tried to look directly into her golden eyes to make himself seem taller. Balin called to Bilbo and Bilbo eagerly gave him his contract that he had signed. Lillynette realized that the dwarf must have read her extra signing for a small smile broke out across his face.

"Well it seems all is in order," Balin proclaimed placing his glasses back into his pouch along with the contract, "Welcome Master Baggins to the Company of Thorin Oakenshield." The others cheered and Bilbo let out a cheerful smile while Lillynette made her way back to the tree tops leaving the happy hobbit alone.

"Give him a pony, " Woodenshield ordered, turning his pony's head and continuing to lead them.

Bilbo's once happy expression turned to something of panic, "no, no. That won't be nessecary I'll keep up on foot here, I've done plenty of walking before. I can just join Lillynette, oh where did she go? I have had plenty of walking holidays before even-"

Before Bilbo could finish he was lifted onto the brown pony (that no one had offered her) by Fili and Kili who chuckled at his response, "sorry, Mr. Boggins but until you can climb trees as fast as Lilly, your better off on a pony." Lillynette began to tree hop and occasionally looked below to see what they were doing or speaking about. She realized very quickly judging by his uncomfortable position that Bilbo was just as skilled with ponies as she was. Coin tossing took place, and Lillynette found herself with a bag of golden coins in hand.

"I'm rich," she squealed in the cover of the leaves, and pocketed the coins in fear a squirrel might grab them. _One can never be too careful with money,_ she reminded herself. "Lilly! We all bet on Mr. Boggins, just thought you would want some of the loot," Kili called, "oh and-

Before the sentence could be finished, Lillynette found...well nothing. The next branch never came. She had been so busy she hadn't noticed the trees were lessening. Lillynette flew to the ground, and landed rather ungracefully on her face. She laid there unsure if to act embarrassed or laugh it off. Blood oozed out of her poor nose. And her mouth filled with the coppery taste of blood also, "a little help?"

The only person who came to her rescue was Kili who very gently placed her on the back of his pony to ride on. He figured that since she was small and light it wouldn't be hard on the pony. As he mounted with her she found her arms set at her side refusing to hug him for support despite her back aching. She refused to accept his help even when he told her she could wrap her arms around him, when she read his mind she found no strange intentions. Lillynette still didn't move her arms from her side even if they would get stuck like that forever.

"Fili?" She whispered. Her black hair billowed in the wind as her eyes glowed brighter to read his thoughts. He did not hate her, but he was not sure about her. If he liked her or did not. Or if he found her strange or unique. All those questions did not matter, because she did not care what any of them thought. Most of them thought she was trouble and annoying, Bilbo found her inspirational, Kili and Fili found her amazing, and Gandalf found her to be very rude.  
As if she cared.

"Hmmm?"

"Thank you," she muttered careful to hide her unwanted blush. Maybe she was getting softer with them? It would make it harder to leave when she had to.


	11. Everyone Lies

After the embarrassing fall Lillynette was submitted into her silence not having enough strength to speak. Woodenshield had seen her fall! He had watched her tumble ungracefully from the tree and land on the ground face first. At first he said nothing but he soon joined the other dwarfs in laughter. She had never been so miserable or embarrassed in her entire life. He had laughed at her, which was surprising by itself.

Luckily Kili hadn't said a word about it. Hadn't brought it up or said anything about her sitting right behind him. He did not dare harm her pride maybe because he knew it would cut deeper than any wound a sword could inflict. He respected that she didn't need him reminding her of the little accident that they would hopefully never hear from again. It would just vanish like rabbit down a hole. To bad fate did not seem to favor her. The others were a different story.

They called her the "false-elf" because she was short and a klutz. Lillynette threatened to shot the next person who called her a "false-elf" and they stopped. The fury of an elf was unmatched, as they usually appeared aloof and calm it was hard to see the shell crack. It was possible though, for an elf to lose their temper. With the right push and shove plus sting of pride you could get Elrond himself to lash out with as much fury as a volcano.

"False-elf," someone laughed silently, but they hadn't anticipated her hearing. She drew a dagger from her pocket, and flicked her wrist at the person so bold to speak. He was a bald-man with tattoos on his head, and hair jutting out from the sides. They dagger landed between his legs, and he took in a cautious breath. He glared at her, and she heard him plotting how long it would take before ended killing her.  
_Too long, _she thought to herself.

"And I'll be wanting that back," she snorted, and the dwarf, Dwalin, she picked up from reading his mind pocketed the knife. She shrugged but silently schemed on ways to return the dagger to its rightful owner. However, from his thoughts, he had all intentions of keeping the dagger for as long as he could. Not that it mattered, she had dozens more hidden all over that she could use over and over again.

The dwarfs spoke a little, not to her of course, but she did not care. Traveling with them was bad enough already. Lillynette briefly wondered what her brother, or father would think of her if they saw her now. Would they be sad? Angry? Disgraced? Upset? Probably all of those feelings, they would be ashamed of her. Especially her father. He was the hardest to please, the hardest to impress while Legolas was the kindest and most accepting. Her father always expected her to be prefect when she wasn't or tall when she never would be. Lillynette remembered him always being very depressed when she seemed to be getting no taller, but more strange. She had then distanced herself from him, because nothing she ever did seemed to be enough for him. She cared for him, of course, but she was unsure he felt the same. His thoughts were those of disappointment, and shame love had never been there.

Legolas was different. He understood her, and cared for her. Accepting each of her flaws and trouble with every stride, like a true brother. Legolas never questioned her many scars, the fights she got into nor why she was late to breakfast in the morning. He accepted her for she was and never asked her to change. When she had read his mind once, she found it plagued with thoughts of her and the outside world, where her curiosity of the later had grown. She felt like a child from his affection but at the same time she felt loved for once. He was like a strong oak, no like a father she never had. He thought about her often this she knew, but he didn't know why she left. He would never know and she would never get to explain it all to him. Lillynette would never be able to sit with him and tell tall tales while watching the bucks play.  
_It's for his own good,_ she reminded herself bitterly.

Lillynette sighed, suddenly very homesick. She missed the trails of time, the tall trees, the everlasting scent of pine, the bucks in the forest, and the rivers flowing over rocks; it was all missed. However, it was time to explore. To live life and that was what the elf princess wanted more than anything. _I need to know what happened _, she remembered, _that's more important then home_.

"Oi! You still alive back there, Lilly?" Kili asked glancing back at the golden eyed elf. Lillynette nodded before pushing his face back in front for him to see where they were going. As she read his mind, she could tell that he was young, related to Thorin, and he seemed to like her. He was not sure if he liked her, but he was sure he did not hate her. He thought her funny, witty and strong which she was. But she did not like him, no at all. She could not, and would not like the dwarf no matter what he said.  
Or how much he liked her bow.

They traveled along the road, down the rocky mountains where she had to grab onto Kili much to her displeasure, and through timbered forests where Lillynette longed to climb into the trees. The sun began to retreat over the hills and she knew they would have to camp soon. Plenty of orcs haunted the plains when the sun set and the moon rose. "Will make camp in the area over this next cliff!" Thorin called back to them but Lillynette was already asleep but she refused to use Kili as a pillow. So instead her head and back were bent backwards as if she was falling off the saddle from behind, and she seemed content with the position.

"Lily, were here." Kili whispered, but she remained still "Lilly! You do not have to sit behind me anymore."

"Why did you not say so earlier? Out of my way, dwarf boy." She snorted suddenly awake and pushed Kili away so she could dismount. She unraveled what Gandalf had brought along for her; a green blanket, a brown cover and a small pillow. She shrugged not knowing what else would suffice for her as she made her way past the ponies to the camp area. The area was small but smooth unlike the rest of the mountain. A single tree stood short beside the ground offering now protection. The cold air rocked the tree back and forth but it didn't bother the tough princess. The crisp moon glared at them as the made themselves comfortable for the night. Lillynette was unsure where to sleep because sleeping next to a dwarf seemed stupid. Lillynette looked up and saw a small peak where she could lie for the night. It was higher above the ground, so that meant no sharing and no snoring.  
It was prefect.

"You'll never reach it," Fili smirked, and she glared at him as he stood beside her, "is it not a little tall for you?"

She brushed him off as she surveyed the wall to find the best footing and nodded. Taking a couple steps back she raced towards the rock and leaped upwards. Her foot landed where it was supposed to followed by the next limb and then the next. Before long she was climbing and reaching her sleep spot, and she could hear Fili's surprised thoughts in her mind. As she reached the clearing, she looked down to see she was a couple feet off the ground looking down at a very surprised dwarf, "never underestimate me."

After another bloom in her pride, Lillynette set up in the small area she had to sleep in. It was much larger then she had anticipated, but "the more the merrier." Lillynette laid down on the brown cover to gaze upwards towards the stars, and the moon. She had lots to think about.

Her memory, the one thing she could not remember. Do not misunderstand Lillynette remembers everything clearly from the beauty of Mirkwood to the halls of Erebor to the wild wilderness. However, no matter how many times she skims her memory she is lost in one part.  
It had her mother. Her mother who had been dead for many years, or at least she thought so. No one had heard from the Queen of Mirkwood, Elanordis Greenleaf.

Lillynette felt warm tears pricking her eyes, and one slide down her pale cheeks. Her mother, her beautiful mother, with her black hair was a mystery to the princess. In her memories she recalled riding in the woods with her mother as a child then waking up on the ground as an adult in the wilderness with only her brother's bow and a sting in her back. It was impossible for her to be a child then an adult so quickly right? Even elves didn't age that fast. It irked her, and she was determined to find out why her memory there was blank. Maybe traveling from place to place would bring back some sort of clue on to what happened those many years ago. Wiping away her tears she curled herself up under the cover and tried to find sleep.

_"LILLYNETTE! RUN!" A voice commanded and a small Lillynette found herself in the middle of a burning forest. The flames dancing off her eyes and her mother was there. A beautiful dark haired elf woman took her into her own arms dragging her away from the horses and elf guards. They were under attack by wargs and orcs from a party that had been tracking them since their leave of Mirkwood. They had not been bold enough to attack when they were safe inside its borders protected by magic, but as they left it was over before it started._

"No, mama! We can't leave him!" She cried, tears pouring out of her large golden eyes as her horse bolted around the flaming trees to escape. Her faithful companion was trapped, he wouldn't escape would he? The horse she called, Nanor after the grasslands, was going to die by flames or by warg she did not know. "NO!"

Her mother ignored her, continuing to run towards a opening where the fire had no spread yet. The woman determined to help her young escape even at the cost of her own life or others. It seemed selfish; for a mother to allow others to die to save herself and her child. It was not that.  
It was courage; the courage to let them go and run.

Suddenly her mother tripped over a foot sending them both tumbling but the woman would not release her child. Lillynette clutched onto her mother's body for dear life as they flipped. Lillynette's face was dripping blood with small cuts that had pricked her skin and a bump on her head were oily red poured slowly. Her mother was cut as well, but was healing her own wounds with magic. Her mother bolted behind a tree as the fire raged and wargs sniffed the area for them. Her mother grasped her aching shoulders forcing her to look into her eyes, they were green. " Listen Water-Lily(1), "her mother began.

"Mama, I'm scared." Little Lilly sobbed, as more tears drifted past her cheeks to the ground below. The elf queen tried to soothe the child with shushes and her fingers on her hair. She did this often to calm the child when she was nervous or scared. This, this event, was far scarier than anything she had lived in. Her golden eyes did nothing, she had not made eye contact with any of the orcs it made her unable to hear their thoughts or plans. For once in her great life, she was useless and terrified.

"It's alright to be afraid, Water-Lily," she cooed, " now listen to me. I love you, I love you. Your father loves you, and Legolas loves you. We will always love you, and that's why you'll never be alone even when were gone. Your special, Water-Lily you have something amazing and you must be careful. Your going to be safe, and when tomorrow comes will eat strawberries with your father."

"Big, ripe ones?" Lillynette sniffled, wiping her nose and eyes with her sleeve.

Her mother smiled, nodded her head and Lillynette saw tears dribble out of her eyes as well, "yes! And will travel all over Middle-Earth, will go to Rivendell! Legolas will lift you onto his horse and you will go on great journeys with him. You will live happy! Away from what you think you know about the world outside, Water-Lily."

"Adventures with Legolas?" Lillynette managed to croak, "and the world will be different?"

Her mother nodded again, "so much different, my baby princess. Evil is very small, and you are larger then it. You are larger than life, Water-Lily. You will always have good in you even if evil seems to be the only thing you have."

"I don't understand, Mama!" Lillynette sobbed her tears returning, "how can good live in the evil?!"

"Remember that I love you, Water-Lily. Papa loves you, Legolas loves you. You will never be alone, Water-Lily."

"MAMA!"

Lillynette shot out of her bed and breathed rapidly. Her body was covered in sweat, her body ached all over and her face was warm and wet. _It was just a dream..._ she reminded herself. Shivers racked through her body as she wrapped herself in her covers. Her long black hair was a mess of hair on top of her head as it shot out in every direction. Lillynette quickly whipped her cheeks to hide the tears she had been crying. It was dark out and she was not sure if anyone was awake or asleep. She skillfully climbed down the ledge to the camp site to see that Kili, Fili, Thorin, and Gandalf were still awake most likely watching the ponies.

"I'm staying down here, if you have a problem with that deal with it," she snapped as she propped herself in between Kili and Thorin. They both looked over in surprise at her sudden decision. Kili brushed it off and welcomed her to the life below but Thorin was smarter.

"You've been crying," he observed and she froze, "why are you crying?"

"Just remembering when you destroyed me," she answered coldly but the dwarf king was unaffected. Because he was an uncaring and stubborn person.  
At least he wasn't alone.


	12. Past of Woodenshield

Lillynette had not like joining the dwarfs below her little area of privacy above them. First of all, they smelled; like nothing she had ever smelled, second? They snored! She would close her eyes for a moment almost drifting off into hopefully sweet dreams, and then a snore that could wake a troll would come out of those small things! Honestly she was like Thorin in a sense. Lillynette looked over at the dwarf prince who would abruptly wake up and then fall asleep again. She doubted that the snoring or the smell bothered him since he reeked of it too, but every other sound set him on edge. The howl of the wind, or the cracking of the nearby tree would startle him out of his slumber, and it was beginning to bother her.

Fili and Kili had been put on watch duty first and they seemed to have no problem with Thorin's constant waking. They joked and munched on food, and then they would tell stories about wrestling worms in the East of East. She would quietly listen to them because she could not catch sleep no matter how hard she tried. Sleeping in the wilderness was different then sleeping with her enemy. Bilbo had gone to sleep soon after she joined but Gandalf was glaring off into the distance. His thoughts ranged from her to Thorin to elves to Smaug to Bilbo. He was worried about the hobbit, as he should be. The elf princess looked at the sleeping form of their "burglar" and frowned.

He shouldn't be here; she thought sadly, he should never have left home. Although the found the hobbit to be quite polite and kind he did not have the heart of a brave warrior. Like herself for example. If it came to it she would kill Thorin in his sleep without batting an eye; Bilbo would most likely wake Thorin and tell him of his plan. And then try to execute it. As she flipped through his thoughts she discovered he was thinking the same thing. He was afraid of her and Thorin, afraid of never going home, nervous about dying; worried he would not impress Thorin, and scared of being burnt to a crisp by a dragon.  
All very good thoughts in her opinion.

"Oi, Lilly! We have a question for you," Fili stated, snapping the elf out of her reverie, "which one of us would look better in tights?"

Lillynette raised a confused eyebrow, "neither of you would." In all honesty, she could not see either of them looking good in tights. Only the tall and lean elves of Mirkwood could make such clothing look nice.

"You're such a cruel person, Lilly!" Kili pouted, but Lillynette only shrugged.

"I have another question!" Fili began, "who is more handsome; Thorin, Gandalf, Kili or myself?"

"Gandalf," she answered and decided to answer the question she knew they would ask, "woman dig the wizard thing."

Gandalf's chuckle ran through the cool night air as he raised his pipe in reply, "thank you my dear."

As Kili and Fili began to argue among themselves who was really more handsome, Lillynette saw a very unpleasant sight. One of the dwarf was snoring, which was not news, but he was breathing in moths. Lillynette had seen many unusual things in her lifetime, and been scared by each but this was a new development. Once, while traveling she heard rumors of poisonous moths that fly into unaware victims and eat their insides._I think I might lose my supper,_ Lillynette thought.

Apparently it had bothered Bilbo as well, because he too woke up. As he stretched Lillynette's ears twitched. Far off she could have sworn she heard…wargs? How ridiculous! Wargs? If they were following us, I would have known! Suddenly a screech ripped through the snoring and her fears were confirmed. They were being followed, by a pack of warg riders. This changed a lot they would have to leave, and very soon by the sound of it.

"What was that?" Bilbo questioned, his thoughts rising with worry.

"Orcs." Kili answered simply. Bilbo carefully paced back to them as Lillynette yanked out her bow and strung an arrow on the cord.

"Orcs?" Bilbo repeated, waking the dwarf prince. He had not slept for more then five minutes before waking.

"Throat cutters," Kili retorted, "they'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them." That was true. Lillynette's travels far and wide had proved that orcs loved darkness and despised the light. They preferred dark and dull places where they could easily hide from unwanted attention. You could always tell by their awful scent; her nose could pick it up from a mile away.

Bilbo paled and Lillynette stifled a laugh, "they strike in the wee small hours when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet, no screams, just lots of blood."

Despite the darkness, Lillynette could clearly see the hobbit swallow. As Kili and Fili giggled like little girls, Thorin and Lillynette scowled deeply at the two. For Lillynette it was only slightly funny since it was intended to be a joke. Orcs had taken her mother from her and a piece of her too. They had taken lives of the innocent and lives of her kin; to her it was no laughing matter. And judging by Thorin's attitude it was the same to him.

"You think that's funny?" Thorin scolded, and the two brothers bowed their heads in shame, "you think a night raid by orcs is a joke?"

"We didn't mean anything by it," Kili muttered in shame. By his thoughts, Lillynette could tell he meant it too. The poor dwarf was trying very, very hard to impress his "uncle." He was trying to earn his blessing and his trust something he did not currently have. However, he was a jokester; he was almost like a child.

"No you didn't, "Thorin hissed angrily, "you know nothing of the world." Then the princess walked off to glare into the night like Gandalf and Lillynette questioned his manliness. He had to be the most spoiled person she had ever met with his little fits and lectures about something like a joke. Although orcs were not to be taken lightly, Thorin did not understand a joke when it appeared.

"Don't mind him," a voice interrupted, and Lillynette saw it to be only Balin, "Thorin has more cause r than most to hate orcs."

Lillynette shook her head, "I think the princess just needs his beauty sleep."

"This is no joke, lassy, "Balin snapped, "Thorin has had a rough past with orcs. In all my lifetime, he has gone through great pain and suffering."

Thorin planted a foot on a rock on the edge and stared off into the night while Bilbo sat on a rock to listen to what she feared was a story. "After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had gotten their first."

Lillynette looked over to the dwarf prince she loathed. This story would not change her perspective of him, not even a bit. He would still be the dwarf prince who insulted her and let…Lillynette halted her thoughts; the story.

"Moria had been taken by legions of orcs led by the most vile of all their race…Azog the defiler." Balin continued.

"The pale orc," Lillynette shuddered. She could still feel his piercing blue eyes digging into her very soul and her back ached painfully. The orc who insisted Gandalf lied to her, the orc who called her princess, and spoke to her like an old friend.

"The giant gundabad had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin," Balin informed.

"That would mean…he would kill you as well, Fili. And you too Kili," Lillynette added and the two dwarfs glared at her fiercely._ Why did she have to say that?_ Their thoughts were quite amusing to her.

"He began…by beheading the king," Balin mourned, and Lillynette flipped around to stare at the dwarf in surprise. Beheaded? Thorin's grandfather, the king of Erebor; he was beheaded by the pale orc?! Biting her lip in worry, she thought of the possibility of having to fight the scarred pale orc. If he could defeat a king, she would have to be a twig. Of course it was a dwarf king so it was not that impressive. "Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing; taken prisoner or killed. We did not know."

He went missing? And they never looked for him? If her ada went missing she would search from every corner of Middle-Earth to find him. Not even an army could stop her from looking in every kingdom and cave. Even though her hate for Thorin ran deeper than any grudge between dwarf and orc she listened intently.

"We were leaderless. Death and defeat was upon us. That is when I saw him," Balin smiled, looking over at Woodenshield, "a young prince facing down the pale orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe. His armor went, wielding nothing but a woo— I mean oaken branch as a shield. Azog the defiler learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken."

"Woodenshield faced that…thing?" Lillynette murmured to herself. She had seen the pale orc; he was ripping with strength and he had managed to dodge her arrow; a feat impossible by an normal orc.

"Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated," Balin nodded, "but there was no feast nor song that night. For our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few survived. And I thought to myself then, there is one who I could follow…there is one I could call king."

Lillynette watched in shock as the dwarfs rose out of their slumber and faced Thorin. Said dwarf turned to face them after the story had finished. What surprised her more were their thoughts; they were all in awe. They would follow him anywhere, and do anything he wished. They were his loyal companions and would serve him till their death.

"No one expects me to call him king, right?" Lillynette questioned, and the dwarfs sighed.

"No my dear, no one is," Gandalf replied in a annoyed tone.

As Thorin marched back in, Bilbo's voice came, "the pale orc? What happened to him?"

"He slunk back into the hole from whence he came, that filth died of his injuries long ago," Thorin answered coldly.

"Well—"Lillynette tried to begin, but one look from Gandalf said it all. His thoughts screamed at her, _we are not to speak of what you heard, Lillynette. It was only a rumor. If he was to know…only trouble will brew._ Lillynette furrowed her eyebrows in surprise; wasn't Gandalf always the one to be honest about everything?

"We have a long journey tomorrow," Thorin spoke, "rest now. I will not stand for any whining nor complaining."

Thorin volunteered for watch while Kili and Fili rested but Lillynette could not sleep. She would not sleep actually, "you will not go to sleep will you?"

Thorin glared over at her, "go to sleep. I do not need your whining tonight or in the morning."

Lillynette glared back at him; how dare he?! "You're afraid." She said simply.

Suddenly Lillynette was pinned against the cliff behind her. Her arms secured above her head and her bow lying aimlessly on the dirt and her legs pinned as well. She hissed at her attacker; Thorin who was glaring at her. "Listen very closely to me, elf **filth**," he spat the word elf as if the word was bitter on his tongue, "I do not want you here. I did not ask for you to join us, or help us. I do not care if you loathe me or if you wish to kill me or my kin. However, if you so much as threaten anyone of them...Kili or any other...I will slaughter you without mercy. If even for a moment you step out of line or put my kin in danger...I will be the one to slit your throat."

He released the elf from his iron grip and let her drop to the ground. She watched the dwarf princess walk away in the cocky way he had when she first met him. And in that moment a fury, a fire, was born inside her soul. A fury that cursed the dwarf prince, that cursed his kin and his home. _I hate him, I hate that cocky, arrogant, stuck-up bastard of a dwarf! I want him to rot in the deepest depths of hell!_

How dare he?! After everything he did and put her through. Did he not know what happened those many years ago? She would never forget. As long as she walked Middle-Earth, she would not forget what he had done.  
He watched her be led to her doom.


	13. Note To Readers

Dear Lovies,

I regret to tell you that I am deleting this fanfiction. I am truly sorry that you have been waiting and waiting, then never getting the next chapter. I loved all the reviews, and I was so happy to see all the people who read my story. Do not fret, I am planning on working on another that I have actually planned out, and I will begin production of it very soon. Thank you all for reading my story, and I hope that this doesn't make you angry at me. Honestly, I thought I could have done better with this story, so I am going to write a story worthy of my skill. I promise to start my story, before the next Hobbit movie comes out, and I promise it will be ten times better than this one. Again, I am really sorry and I hope this doesn't discourage you from reading any of my future works. I will be deleting this story in one week, thank you for understanding! Again, I love all of you sooooo much! Seeing all of your reviews made me really, really happy!

With Love,

~Spade-_chan_~


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